The title of the movie, Andrew Jackson: The Atrocious Saint, comes from the contradictions that the man and his times were subject to. On the one hand, he fought for the freedom of his country and helped write the documents that have defined the rights of man for the past couple of centuries; The American Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. On the other hand he owned slaves and thought nothing of ordering thousands of Cherokee people to be forced to march across America with no supplies and little chance of survival. While he proclaimed freedom for people who lived within the borders of his own country, he didn't think twice about imposing American rule upon those who might not have wanted anything to do with it, and was a firm supporter of Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine. Both of which have been used as excuses for American incursion anywhere in the Western Hemisphere as recently as the invasions of Panama and Grenada. Basically, they say it's America's Manifest Destiny to rule the Western Hemisphere, and that nobody has any business telling them what to do over here.
In 1812 the British in Canada learned that the American's meant business about this, and were barely able to repel an invasion with the aid of various Native Americans who realized they would probably be better off under British rule than American. While the British troops did successfully burn Washington DC and the first White House to the ground and defend Canada, the Americans were able to beat them in New Orleans. If General Jackson and his troops hadn't been able to make that stand, the American revolution might have come to a very quick and nasty end. For the British would have been able to seize control of all shipping travelling up the Mississippi and not only would have prevented supplies from being transported throughout the Union, would have been able to send troops all through the country and become the invaders instead of the defenders.
So it should come as no surprise to hear a certain famous bluegrass tune celebrating the defeat of the British at New Orleans in 1814 incorporated as part of the score for the movie. In fact, scattered throughout you'll hear bits and pieces of tunes that are familiar as we wend our way through history. Yet, no matter how nice it is to hear something you recognize on occasion, that's not what really distinguishes this effort. What I found most remarkable was how the music represented so many different aspects of life from the time period.
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